Time went by, the days passed until it was now the day before the Winter ball. Understandably, most everyone was working towards making sure nothing wrong was going to happen on such a day. Kouji included, and that also meant helping out Isako as a personal assistant given his role at the school.
"Could you lay out all of these?" She handed him a stack of folded cards for display on all the tables.
"I got it." His headmistress had been running him ragged the last couple of days leading up to this event. Hopefully he'd be able to get some rest tonight before the big event. But if he was looking tired, then she was absolutely frazzled with stress. "You know, maybe you should take a little bit of a break."
"Break? Oh, I don't need one of those." She responded.
"It just looks like you're freaking out a bit." He was getting concerned about her well-being.
"Freaking out? Of course I'm not freaking out, I'm completely normal right now." That was a complete and utter lie. "All right, fine." She relented when his eyes showed how unconvincing she was. "It's just that this is a really big deal."
This Winter ball was the grand annual event that this school had. A lot of important people were going to be watching the girls, grading them and her job as headmistress as well. Not to mention that there was prestige built up over the years of this academy's existence. There was no room for error for her, not a speck of dust could go untouched.
"That's fine and all, but I don't think that you fainting during it is going to help." He informed her, trying to make a good case to convince her. "I'd hate to allow you to get hurt."
"You really would put my health above this event?" She had never had anyone tell her this during all the other times she had been the lead on this project. "Perhaps you're right, I should get some rest."
"Just go back to your office." He assured her that he would be more than capable of handling the rest of this. After all, this was still a lot better than looking over homework with the girls. Even if that was supposed to be his real job. Isako left the main area while he returned to work, however it wouldn't be long until he was interrupted again.
"Hello." A woman who he had never met before greeted him, next to her was someone he knew though. That being Yuma's father, whose name was Tsuguto Onodera.
"Ah, I see the headmistress has you working on the tables here." He said to him. "We just wanted to drop by to let you both know that our staff and ourselves will be helping along to, as well as aiding in chaperoning." The three servants weren't far behind as they came in with all their cleaning tools.
"That's really kind of you to lend a hand." Kouji lit up at the thought that he wasn't going to be alone for the rest of the day. "Thanks a lot."
"It's no problem."
"And I suppose the two of us should officially make our introductions." Yuma's mom spoke up. "My name is Etsuki Onodera, and I take it you're Kouji?"
"Yep." He responded by shaking her hand. "Yuma's talked about me?"
"A little." Whatever she did say, wasn't much though. "Anyway, it's nice to meet another one of her friends. She didn't have any during junior high, so it's nice that she's found herself a nice little group."
"I'm glad to hear that." With that, it was up to him to tell everyone what to do. Since Isako wasn't here, it was his responsibility to take the lead and make sure that everything would be kept up to the standards of the academy. Good thing he paid attention to all those slideshows she made him watch the weeks prior. Every single one of them, of which there had to be nearly hundreds.
"It's funny that we're working together here." Todoro, one of the servants said to him. Of course, neither of them forgot how that man knocked Kouji out when he believed him to be an intruder. "And sorry about punching you."
"How many times are you going to say that." His partner, Mikune, didn't care about that incident as much. "He already forgave you, just move on." While they were chatting, getting their work done. Kouji had this odd feeling of being watched. As if someone was evaluating his every move, action, and word.
A couple quick glances over his shoulder would prove to reveal the culprit. That being the head butler, Shinkai keeping his eye on him. The boy wondered what he did to cause such scrutiny. Though he would be unable to question it, as a certain girl walked in to join them.
"They told me… That you came here." It was Yuma, who was allowed out of class to see her family. This ball was so important, that it was no surprise to anyone but Kouji that she was let out. And the only reason he took issue with it was because it was his job to keep their grades up. Since this ball had taken most of his time, he was relying on them surviving without him for a little while.
"Yuma!" It was nice to see them have their little reunion, even though that all saw her this morning before she went to school. Their connection was more than enough to make Kouji feel a little jealous of his friend.
"Okay." He spoke up. "Maybe we should make sure everything's finished here first?" They did as he asked, with Yuma specially joining him along privately.
"Has it been… Fun for you?" She asked him. The girl was glad that she was able to talk with him privately.
"Fun?" He chuckled at such a silly question. "I don't think that's the word I'd be looking for."
"Really?" She looked at him. "I enjoy this type of work... A lot." To her, this was easy. Just do the tasks she was asked of, and that was that. Didn't have to worry about thinking, nor did she have to worry about being evaluated for it. "If I could… This would be all I would do."
"That doesn't sound like good life." He told her. "Isn't the whole point of being here so you could be successful in the future?"
"It's true." she admitted. "And it's not like… I have a choice." Yuma was an only child, and that meant being the only one to continue the business after her parents retired. This was not a job she was looking forward to taking one bit.
"Must be pretty tough with something like that on your shoulders." It wasn't something that he kept in mind all that much considering his position. However, most of these girls did have something to do when they graduated. Which is probably why their parents would send them here, so that they would be ready when it was time to take over. It's a good thing they were all first-years right now, so there was plenty of time to grow.
"I wish that…"
"It's fine." He gave the girl a pat on the back. "You got all of us to help you out." To him, having that support would go a long way. Thinking about the harem he had, Kouji realized that he shouldn't be letting girls like Yuma or Anastasia behind. They're still his friends, and he needs to be there just like he was certain they'd be there for him.
"Thank you." She smiled at his declaration, perhaps there was still a chance for her after all.
"Great, now come on. I need some help with…"
Tomorrow night was going to be the most important night of everyone's school year. For some, it was going to become the most important night of their life.